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This research explores perceptions of knowledge management processes held by managers and employees in a service industry. To date, empirical research on knowledge management in the service industry is sparse. This research seeks to examine absorptive capacity and its four capabilities of acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation and their impact on effective knowledge management. All of these capabilities are strategies that enable external knowledge to be recognized, imported and integrated into, and further developed within the organization effectively. The research tests the relationships between absorptive capacity and effective knowledge management through analysis of quantitative data (n = 549) drawn from managers and employees in 35 residential aged care organizations in Western Australia. Responses were analysed using Partial Least Square-based Structural Equation Modelling. Additional analysis was conducted to assess if the job role (of manager or employee) and three industry context variables of profit motive, size of business and length of time the organization has been in business, impacted on the hypothesized relationships.

Structural model analysis examines the relationships between variables as hypothesized in the research framework. Analysis found that absorptive capacity and the four capabilities correlated significantly with effective knowledge management, with absorptive capacity explaining 56% of the total variability for effective knowledge management. Findings from this research also show that absorptive capacity and the four capabilities provide a useful framework for examining knowledge management in the service industry. Additionally, there were no significant differences in the perceptions held between managers and employees, nor between respondents in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Furthermore, the size of the organization and length of time the organization has been in business did not impact on absorptive capacity, the four capabilities and effective knowledge management.

The research considers implications for business in light of these findings. The role of managers in providing leadership across the knowledge management process was confirmed, as well as the importance of guiding routines and knowledge sharing throughout the organization. Further, the results indicate that within the participating organizations there are discernible differences in the way that some organizations manage their knowledge, compared to others. To achieve effective knowledge management, managers need to provide a supportive workplace culture, facilitate strong employee relationships, encourage employees to seek out new knowledge, continually engage in two-way communication with employees and provide up-to-date policies and procedures that guide employees in doing their work. The implementation of knowledge management strategies has also been shown in this research to enhance the delivery and quality of residential aged care.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate how big data collected from social media contribute to knowledge management practices, innovation processes and business performance.

The study used 418 questionnaires collected from firms that actively invest in marketing, advertising and communication in the Italian market. The hypotheses testing and analysis were conducted using structural equation modeling.

The results reveal that customers’ data gathered from social media produce different effects on knowledge management practices and firms’ innovation capacity. Furthermore, increased innovation capacity turned out to affect customer relationship performance directly, while it contributes to gain better financial performance only when it is used to gain relational outcomes.

The outcomes of the study help firms to develop a clear understanding about which big data retrieved from social media can be useful to improve their knowledge management practices and enhance their innovation capacity. Moreover, by investigating the mediating role of big data knowledge management in the context of social media knowledge acquisition and innovation capacity, this study also extends the mediation variables used to understand the relationship between knowledge capabilities and practices and innovation constructs.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between knowledge management capacity and organizational performance from the social interaction perspective.

The empirical study employs a questionnaire approach. The sample for this study is drawn from the population of the top 5,000 Taiwanese firms listed in the yearbook published by the China Credit Information Service Incorporation. Regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses in a sample of 105 Taiwanese firms.

The findings suggest that two assessments of knowledge management capacity, knowledge acquisition and dissemination, and the communication factor of social interaction are positively related to organizational performance. Further, social interaction has complementary or synergistic interaction effects with knowledge management capacity on organizational performance.

Given the need for the use of knowledge management capacity as an enabler to improve organization outcome, firms need to be aware that social interaction would moderate the link between knowledge management capacity and organizational performance. Therefore, firms should pay special attention to formulate appropriate social interaction conditions under which knowledge acquisition and dissemination are most likely to enhance organizational performance.

This study contributes to the literature by theoretically developing a conceptual model and then empirically examining the relationships among knowledge management capacity, social interaction, and organizational performance.

This study aims to explore the relationship between knowledge management (KM) and firm performance through mediating effects of strategic human resource management (HRM) and organizational innovations.

Usable responses from 638 employees belonging to 230 organizations operating in India were collected via questionnaires. To determine the hypothesized relationships between the study variables, namely, KM capacity, strategic HRM, administrative innovation, technical innovation and firm performance, bootstrapping method via PROCESS was put into use.

The findings strengthen the notion that effective KM in firms leads to better innovation capabilities and higher firm performance. Further, the study reveals that the effects of KM capacity on firm performance go through a relationship chain (serial mediation) consisting of strategic HRM, administrative innovation and technical innovation.

The results undeniably infer that the effective management of knowledge is critical for leveraging innovations and other performance indicators in organizations. More specifically, it does not only result in enhanced firm performance but also in proper utilization of strategic HR practices for the benefits of employees, with a boost in administrative and technical innovations in organizations.

By confirming several mediation paths through strategic HRM, administrative and technical innovations, this study offers some noteworthy insights in expounding the relationship between KM and firm performance.

This paper analyzes how organizations may use different knowledge management styles according to higher or lower emphasis on (1) techno‐structural initiatives for information processing, and (2) behavioral solutions for knowledge sharing by organizational members. As a consequence, the effects of these styles on learning capacity are also different. The empirical analysis of the present study found that knowledge management practices can be categorized into four styles: (1) passive, (2) behavioral, (3) techno‐structural, and (4) active. The active style, which implies superior management of both techno‐structural and behavioral tools of knowledge management has been the most effective in the development of learning capacity. In contrast, the passive style, which implies weak management of both kinds of knowledge management initiatives, results in lower learning capacity. Hence, this work focuses on suggesting and empirically testing a characteristic framework for how a set of knowledge management initiatives interact and influence learning capacity in organizations.

This study examines the relationship between knowledge-sharing activities of the firm and its innovation capability. It also investigates the moderating impact of the firms' absorptive capacity on the relationship between knowledge sharing and firm innovation capability from the cross-subsidiary perspective in the international market environment.

This study reviewed the literature from the areas of knowledge management, international market and innovation management. Through the literature review, absorptive capacity theory and dynamic capability view (DCV) theory, a conceptual model has been developed. This model has been validated using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique with 612 respondents from 16 multinational firms from different countries.

The study finds that knowledge-sharing activities across subsidiaries of multinational firms are important for product and process innovation. Firms’ absorptive capacity also impacts the relationship between firms' knowledge-sharing activities and their different dynamic capabilities, such as sensing, seizing and transforming. The study also finds that firms' innovation capability positively impacts their competitiveness.

This study provides valuable inputs to the management of multinational firms to recognize the importance of knowledge-sharing activities across their different subsidiaries in the international marketing knowledge management (MKM) context.

The study adds to the literature on knowledge management, international market and firms' innovation capability. As the study examines the knowledge-sharing activities across different subsidiaries of multinational firms, especially in the context of process and product innovation, it is considered unique. The study also provides a unique validated model.

Service organization supply chains provide a context that amplifies the complexity of interorganizational interdependencies and the need to build unique capabilities and innovative solutions, especially when confronted with man-made or natural disasters. Using the lens of complex adaptive systems (CAS), this study aims to investigate the role of absorptive capacity (AC), change management capability and information quality in improving a firm’s ability to cope with disasters – disaster immunity (DI). The study uniquely parses absorptive capacity into a three-variable, second-order construct (absorptive human resource management, absorptive complementary knowledge and absorptive infrastructure).

Using data collected from 264 US service firms in a supply chain context, this paper evaluates the research model using the structural equation modeling approach.

The second-order, three-dimensional framework for AC has far superior psychometric properties as compared to the previous unidimensional conceptualizations. Results show that AC influences a firm’s DI through change management capability and information quality – two DI enhancing resources.

The paper builds on previous conceptual discussions of absorptive capacity as a multidimensional construct by operationalizing AC as a latent variable with three dimensions (above). Moreover, this paper shows that AC, change management capability, information quality and DI are interrelated parts of a CAS.

This paper aims to draw upon social cognitive theory to develop a conceptual framework of four types of factors: individual, social, organisational and cultural that influence an individual’s knowledge sharing behaviour.

Data from 298 employees in Myanmar’s banking industry were analysed using the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach.

The results reveal that an individual’s absorptive capacity, trust and social interaction significantly impact knowledge-sharing behaviour. Additionally, the study found the moderating influence of knowledge sharing opportunity and collectivism in examining the impact of absorptive capacity, trust and social interaction on knowledge sharing behaviour.

Future research may consider other dimensions of cultural dimensions, and extending the model by adding outcomes of knowledge sharing behaviour such as innovation or productivity could also be considered.

Organisations need to consider absorptive capacity in the recruitment process, increase trust and social interaction among employees, promote knowledge-sharing opportunities and collectivism to promote knowledge-sharing behaviour.

The study’s distinctive contribution is the Myanmar bank sector's under-researched context for investigating the reverse relationship between absorptive capacity and knowledge sharing behaviour. The moderating effects of knowledge sharing opportunity and collectivism ignored mainly in the knowledge sharing literature were investigated in this study.

As the knowledge management and research communications arm of the Global Development Network, GDNet builds the capacity of researchers from developing and transition countries to inform global development research and policy. In its early years, GDNet focused on information and knowledge management staff in developing country research institutes, recognising the importance of this group in moving locally generated research into policy. From 2005 onwards, GDNet piloted a series of knowledge management workshops in Africa, and in 2007, organised a two‐day conference in Cairo, in partnership with the ACBF and the World Bank Institute, to share and examine its findings with others. Called “Knowledge Management as an Enabler of Change and Innovation in Africa”, the conference brought together the experiences and lessons learned from efforts to build knowledge management capacity from across the African continent. In 2007, the discussion centered on two key themes: the need to create an enabling environment for the adoption of knowledge management practices in Africa and the importance of indigenous knowledge assets as inputs to poverty alleviation strategies. In exploring these themes, speakers highlighted several key challenges in “efforts towards building effective communication strategies and building a ‘knowledge friendly culture’ in the continent” (GDN, 2007). The 20th anniversary of ACBF is a timely opportunity to revisit the discussions of 2007, to question progress made towards meeting these challenges and share with delegates how GDNet’s capacity building activities have evolved in the light of the conference findings.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic picture of how and to what extent Cohen and Levinthal’s (1990) seminal article on absorptive capacity was used in knowledge management (KM) and intellectual capital (IC) research from 1990 to 2013.

In this paper, 186 articles extracted from eight KM and IC journals were reviewed by conducting both content and text analyses. To facilitate research comparison, content analysis followed the method used by Roberts et al. (2012) and thus was based on categories, conceptualizations, levels of analysis and, additionally, temporal evolution of absorptive capacity from 1990 to 2013 was looked at. Text analysis was performed to identify major research themes developing the absorptive capacity construct.

Finding showed that absorptive capacity was largely underdeveloped in the KM and IC fields. KM, knowledge transfer and innovation were the top three research areas investigating absorptive capacity in the KM and IC fields.

This study had limitations related to time frame, covering a period from April 1990 to November 2013, and accessibility of articles due to specific restrictions in journal subscriptions.

This paper is a first attempt to review absorptive capacity in KM and IC research. It represented a primary reference for those interested to research absorptive capacity in the KM and IC fields.